grace
Our Life of Fellowship
by Linda Rex
September 29, 2024, Proper 21 | After Pentecost—Back in 2013, I accomplished a huge goal in my life by completing my Master of Pastoral Studies degree at Grace Communion Seminary. As part of this project, I wrote a thesis on the New Testament passage which happens to be one of the RCL passages for this Sunday, James 5:13–20.
I had to do an extensive exegesis on the passage, and also examine it in the light of historic orthodox Christian teaching, as well as within the context of our theological journey within Grace Communion International. As I began to study this passage, I examined it in the light of Christ-centered Trinitarian theology, since Jesus needs to be the lens through which I look. Even though my thesis had to do with the importance role relationships play in experiencing health and wholeness, it brought forth some important nuances about our life of faith within the Body of Christ, and what our life of fellowship with one another should look like.
Here is a summary passage from that thesis:
God has called us all into relationship with himself in Christ by the Spirit. As believers we live in relationship with one another in Christ, as well as in union with the Father, Son and Spirit. Throughout all of life, we are to live in relationship with God, responding to him in prayer and in songs of praise in the good times and bad. As believers, we live as members of the Body of Christ in the Spirit, and as such we have a responsibility to one another. When a brother or sister is ill, they are encouraged to call for the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them so they may experience the care and concern of both God and their brothers and sisters. When a brother or sister is struggling with weaknesses, we minister God’s grace to them in prayer and/or in other ways. We are encouraged to confess our faults to one another and to pray for one another so we may be free. And we call erring brothers and sisters back to their center in Christ when they wander away. As we participate with Christ in his ministry of care for others, we share in the spiritual blessings that come from the harvest he seeks in the lives of his people as he conforms them to Christ.
As you can see, life in fellowship with others is vibrant, alive, and active. It is a life of sharing, caring, and serving one another. There is a responsibility to one another, and a deep sense of humility, joy, obedience, and reverence before God, as we walk in intimate relationship with him.
When we look at our Christian fellowships today, how many of them look like this? I don’t say that to be critical, but to show that the Holy Spirit does not change. When the Holy Spirit draws us together into spiritual fellowships—this is what it looks like. This is where Jesus Christ shows up—living in us, with us, and through us by his Spirit. This is where the Father’s presence rests, and we live in the joy of mutual indwelling through Jesus in the Spirit. In my mind, this looks a lot like what GCI calls healthy church.
The question is not whether our church is or is not following some guideline to be healthy church. The question is, are we in union and communion with our Triune God—Father, Son, and Spirit? Are we united with Christ? If so, then, how are we living that out in our relationships with one another? Living it out relationship with one another looks like getting into face-to-face relationships with people who may be like us or different than us. And relationships can be very messy, and difficult. In fact, some relationships may be even painful or distressing. And that may make us very uncomfortable.
But the point is—we never do any of this alone. There is one human being who has dealt with just about any kind of person that has ever existed—and he still lives as God in human flesh—the resurrected Jesus Christ. Our ability to live with others in warm fellowship is made possible by Jesus Christ living in and through us by the Holy Spirit. It is the life of Christ actively flowing in and through us which brings about this warm fellowship which characterizes the Body of Christ. Are we opening ourselves up to the Holy Spirit? Do we draw close to God through listening to his Word, praying, and practicing the many other spiritual disciplines such as silence, solitude, generosity, and service? These are things we do to open ourselves up to allow God to live his life of warm fellowship in and through us. And this is our life of fellowship as the Body of Christ.
Heavenly Father, Jesus, Spirit, thank you for including us in your life and love. Thank you, Jesus, for all you have done and are doing to make this possible. And thank you, heavenly Spirit, for always and forever working in and through us to enable us to live in fellowship with you, God, and one another, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
“Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Elijah was aa man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit. My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” James 5:13–20 NASB
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Pushing Away God’s Love
By Linda Rex
August 11, 2024, Proper 14—Last week I wrote about our role as members of the body of Christ, the Church (meaning the universal, all-encompassing, cross-denominational and cross-distinctives body of Christ). In our current culture, a group of people from all walks of life, backgrounds, and ways of being who live together in unity and other-centered love is in many ways a countercultural entity. People who have lived much of their lives in a very individualistic, self-absorbed manner may find it very challenging to be warmly embraced and invited into close relationship. In fact, it may feel invasive and even frightening to some people.
Over the years, I discovered that one reason we may push away such a welcoming, inclusive experience is because we are afraid that if we let anyone get close, they may discover what we are really like and reject us. What God has called his Church to be is the place where people are fully known, yet fully loved and accepted. The body of Christ, the Church, is meant to be a safe place for all God’s children. Unfortunately, the Church too often has been the place where when someone opens up and begins to get real, they are condemned, criticized, and or rejected. We do this in our families and in our other relationships, but this is not the way God treats us—so we should not treat each other in this way either.
In the New Testament passage for this Sunday, Ephesians 4:25–5:2, the apostle Paul describes what it looks like when people live together in the union and communion of the Triune life and love. As they live in these ways, they imitate the being and inner life of our Father and his Son in the Spirit.
What does this way of living together look like? Paul says that people are honest with one another—they practice truth-telling in love. They do not allow anger or rage to rule, for they do not want the evil one to have a chance to cause harm or division. They work hard, rather than steal, so they can help others out. The words they say build each other up, and they avoid any kind of slander, malice, or bitterness. They are always forgiving and kind to one another, no matter what may be going on in their lives. Living and walking in this way does not grieve the Spirit, for it is a reflection of the very union and communion of the Father with his Son in the Spirit.
When we look at our relationships within the body of Christ, especially when we look cross-denominationally or across lines of distinctions, do they manifest this kind of unity and love? What about in our own marriages and families? And what about our relationships with people outside the Church—how do we relate to people who do not yet believe in Christ? When I am honest with myself, I have to admit that too often I have fallen far short from being a true imitation of the divine Being.
Thankfully, this is where grace through faith comes in. And this is where we are privileged through Jesus to offer grace to one another. The reality is that whatever our life is in Christ by the Spirit, it is grounded in the love of God in Christ and in the grace that is ours through what Jesus did in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension. We are so grateful that we are held in Christ in his own face-to-face fellowship with his Father in the Spirit, so that even when we miss the mark, our own fellowship with God is unshaken. The Lord ever draws us back into that place of union and communion, while by his Spirit, he works to form Christ in us.
Evil constantly seeks opportunities to separate, divide, disrupt, confuse, and destroy all that is good, holy, and unified. We are constantly pressed upon by people and circumstances whose sole purpose is to steal or ruin or kill anything in our lives that may reflect the divine Being of Father, Jesus, Spirit—Three Persons in One Being. Still, the Spirit ever works to bring unity and oneness, while, like a parasite on all that is good, the evil one ever works to bring division and discord. At times, we participate in either direction, and we reap the consequences of our choices in this regard. But Jesus continues to invite us to follow him wherever he leads, and by his Spirit, he always leads us down the path to unity, oneness, love, and grace. And he holds us, now and forever, in his own face-to-face union and communion with his Father in the Spirit. This is our comfort and our peace.
Like Jesus, our fellowships of faith are called by God to be places where the Spirit is not grieved, but joyfully shares with us the divine fellowship of union and communion which is ours in Christ. As we gather together to worship God in Spirit and in truth, may we mirror more and more accurately the life and love of our Father, Jesus, and Spirit, and may we welcome warmly, gently, and wisely those who enter in, seeking a safe place to participate in God’s life and love.
Heavenly Father, Jesus, Spirit, thank you for including us in your life and love. We are ever in need of your forgiveness, for we are so often poor reflections of you. But by your Spirit, you are ever working. We trust you to finish what you have begun, through Jesus in the Spirit. Amen.
“Therefore, laying aside falsehood, ‘speak truth each one’ of you ‘with his neighbor,’ for we are members of one another. ‘Be angry, and’ yet ‘do not sin’; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity. He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” Ephesians 4:25–5:2 NASB
“Faking it and lying to one another was part of the old life; now truth remains the constant inspiration in your every conversation. We are related to one another like different parts in the same body. (Which means that cheating one another would be cheating yourself! …) Even if you think you have a valid excuse, do not let anger dominate your day! If you don’t deal with it immediately (in the light of the likeness of Christ in you) the sun sets for you and your day becomes one of lost opportunity where darkness employs anger to snare you into sin. Any sin that you tolerate is an open invitation to the devil. Do not give him a platform to operate from. If you were a thief before, you are one no more. Find an honest joy where the fruit of your labor can be a blessing to others! Instead of cheap talk, your mouth is now a fountain of grace, giving encouragement and inspiration to everyone within earshot. The Holy Spirit is your signet ring from God to confirm that you are redeemed to live your life in the light of day; any conduct that belongs to the night grieves him. Take up the strongest possible position against every form of distorted behavior in your own life. Do not allow yourself to be spiteful; outbursts of violent emotion and rage do not become you. You don’t have to shout in order to make your point. People must feel safe in your conversation; therefore, slander and hurtful words (blasphemy) are out! Be inspired by kindness and compassion; your forgiving one another when you might feel irritated and frustrated demonstrates the way God graciously treated us in Christ. Mirror God; you are his offspring. (2 Cor. 3:18.) This is how; let the love of Christ be your life; remember how he abandoned himself to us. His love is contagious, not reluctant but extravagant. Sacrificial love pleases God like the sweet aroma of worship.” Ephesians 4:25–5:2 Mirror Bible
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Because of Christ
By Linda Rex
August 4, 2024, Proper 13 | After Pentecost—As I was reflecting upon the New Testament passage for this Sunday, Ephesians 4:1–16, it occurred to me that many people today do not see or understand the value and significance of participating in a spiritual fellowship such as a church. Churches, and their accompanying denominations, have received a lot of criticism and ridicule in recent years. And many of us are too busy with life elsewhere to be actively involved in a church, or we have no interest in anything having to do with matters of faith.
This is understandable, considering our human history and how often we as human beings within the body of Christ have fallen so short of what Christ called us to be. The reality is that when the Spirit brings people together and unites them in Christ, these people are still learning and growing, and are in the process of maturing into Christ. Our purpose in joining in fellowship with others of like mind and heart is not to be or become perfect people, but to grow up in Christ and to serve God and others, in love and unity.
The apostle Paul stressed the importance of unity within the body of Christ, a unity which is only possible in and through the work of Jesus by his Spirit. Jesus led the way and brought us up into his own union and communion with his Father in the Spirit, and he is the head of his body, the Church (speaking of the universal, all-encompassing, cross-denominational and cross-distinctives body of Christ). God brings together in Christ by his Spirit people from all walks of life, all different sorts of people who may or may not like one another or understand one another.
I thought I would share some bullet points on this passage. I think they say well what we need to learn from Paul about being the body of Christ, the Church:
- Because Christ has given us his fullness in the Spirit and made us one with God—we are to maintain our unity in Christ. We are to beware of any attempt to cause division within the body of Christ. We are all one in Christ Jesus. We may worship differently, we may have a relationship with God that is different than someone else, but we are all one in Christ Jesus. We are to keep Christ at the center and we will have room for one another.1
- Because Christ has given us his fullness in the Spirit and made us one with God—we offer ourselves in works of service. How has he uniquely gifted each of us? In what way can we serve others the way Christ serves us? No one is left out of Jesus’ generous gift of grace or of his calling to serve others. What would Christ have us do to participate with him in building up his body?
- Because Christ has given us his fullness in the Spirit and made us one with God—we participate in equipping or being equipped. Has God called us and gifted us uniquely to act as a ligament or joint in his body, to hold it together by serving as an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher? Then we are to do the work of service Christ has given us and diligently equip others for service. If we were not called to be a joint or ligament, then God called us and gifted us to do works of service in some other part of the body.2 We are to allow the Spirit to empower us to serve with Christ’s heart of service. We are to allow ourselves to be equipped by those God has gifted to equip us. We are to stay grounded in Christ and grow in our knowledge of the Son of God.
- Because Christ has given us his fullness in the Spirit and made us one with God—we are to speak the truth in love. Christ is the fullest expression of love and is the truth of our human existence, having lived our life, died our death, and risen for our salvation. He himself is the fullness we all are to grow up in until we reach maturity. He is the truth we speak in love.3 4
- Because Christ has given us his fullness in the Spirit and made us one with God—we are to grow up in Christ. We are to stop being childish, easily swayed and distracted by every new spiritual fad that comes our way. We are to turn from anything that distracts us from Christ or from being busy doing the works of service he has called us to do. We are to participate with him in building up his church and maintaining its unity as members of his body.
As you read these bullet points, what stood out to you? Is there some way in which the Lord is wanting you to reframe your view of the body of Christ, the Church? How is the Lord is calling you to join with others in service to him and his people? Take the time to be still before God and to invite Jesus to speak to you about this. What does he have to say to you? Are you listening?
[1] Sproul, RC, The Purpose of God, An exposition of Ephesians. Scotland (Christian Focus Publications via Logos Software, 1994), Eph 4:7-16.
[2] Wiersbe, Warren W., Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the New Testament. USA (SP Publications, Inc. via Logos Software), Eph. 4, section I.
[3] John 14:6.
[4] Stone, Sam E., ed., Sermon Outlines on Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Cincinnati, Ohio (The Standard Publishing Company, 1995), The Unity of the Spirit—Ephesians 4:1–16.
Dear Father, Jesus, Spirit, you draw us together into union and communion with you and others, growing us up into the full maturity of Christ. Grant us the grace to hear your call and to respond obediently, by participating fully within your body of believers, the Church, through Jesus and by your Spirit. Amen.
“Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, ‘When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.’ (Now this expression, ‘He ascended,’ what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” Ephesians 4:1–16 NASB
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God’s Lavish Grace
By Linda Rex
July 14, 2024, Proper 10 | After Pentecost—In my view, one very inspiring passage with regards to God’s grace is the New Testament passage for this Sunday, Ephesians 1:3-14. In this opening eulogy (which in Greek is one very long sentence), the lavish grace of God is celebrated and extolled by the apostle Paul.
As Paul blesses the God who has blessed all of us “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,” we are swept up into adoration and worship of the Triune God who has brought us into relationship with himself through Jesus in the Spirit. You might wish to stop and take a moment to underline or mark each time Paul uses the expression “in Christ” or “in him” or something similar in this pericope. In this short passage, which celebrates the passionate and lavish love of our heavenly Father, we find that his beloved Son, Jesus, is central to our redemption, salvation, and glorification. It is in Jesus Christ that we find ourselves lavishly gifted and included in his own relationship with his Father in the Spirit. All human effort drops off into the pool of participation in Christ, and we find ourselves swept up into and included in Jesus’ own life with his Abba in the Spirit.
Here, in the midst of this blessing, we discover the magnitude and depths of God’s love for us. God’s passionate affection for us, his creatures, is expressed by his choice that we be holy and blameless before him—in Christ, before the foundation of the world. We discover that God always meant for us to be his adopted children. God always meant for us to live in union and communion with himself in the Spirit. So, in Christ, he did all that was necessary for this to occur, enabling us to be who he created us to be, inheritors of salvation, participants in God’s life and love by the heavenly Spirit.
The concept of adoption in this passage points to a couple of things. First, in the Mirror Bible, the translator says that the word for sonship or adoption, huiothesia, refers more to a coming of age rather than the idea of Roman adoption. According to this metaphor, in Christ, our humanity comes to its fullest and most profound expression. The fulfillment of all God meant for us as human beings is found in Jesus Christ, the one who is fully God and fully man, who has lived our life, died our death, and risen again, sending us the Spirit so we may share in his divine perfections and in his own face-to-face communion with his Father in the Spirit.
Secondly, as other commentators point out, in the Roman culture of that day a newborn child was often placed at the father’s feet. The father then chose whether to keep or discard the child. Such a child could be rejected or disinherited at any point in his or her life, depending upon the father’s choice. In contrast, in the Roman culture of that day, an adoption was a difficult and expensive process, and once done, could not be undone. Therefore, an adopted child was always included in the family and could never be disinherited. In this metaphor, God’s passionate love for us as his children is expressed in his selection of us, but going even beyond that, in his adoption of us as his very own. In this way, adoption, and even sonship, become powerful metaphors for the lavish love and grace of our heavenly Father, when it comes to our inclusion in God’s life and love.
When we take the time to meditate on this passage, it is inspiring to consider how much God, from before time began, considered us. When we believe that God doesn’t even realize we exist or that he doesn’t really care, we should look at the broad horizon of our human existence, however long it may be. And as we do this, we want to go even farther back, before all that. Before time began, we were on God’s mind and heart, and he was planning for us. Like parents planning for the coming of a newborn child, our heavenly Father excitedly planned for our existence, creating through his Son by the Spirit a world in which we could live, explore, and grow into maturity. And our Triune God planned for our turning away into sin and death, knowing that he, in Christ, held the key for our ultimate redemption, salvation, and glorification. Our Father’s purposes and plans will be realized in spite of our failures and shortcomings, because we are in Christ and have been given, and in him have received, the Holy Spirit. And this is why, even when life looks dark, we have hope.
Dear Trinity, thank you for including us in your life and love. Thank you for lavishing your grace upon us, through all you have done from before time, are doing even now, and will do in the world to come. Awaken us to the abundance of all the spiritual blessings which are ours in you, our blessed Father, Jesus, and Spirit. Amen.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.” Ephesians 1:3–14 NASB
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The Grace of Giving
By Linda Rex
June 30, 2024, Proper 8 | After Pentecost—As I grow older, I find that I am more and more aware of how far my actions and behavior are from my ideals and beliefs. One of the areas in my life where this is true is the area of giving.
In our New Testament passage for this Sunday, 2 Corinthians 8:7–15, the apostle Paul reminds the members in Corinth about a gift they had pledged to give their sister church in Jerusalem. The members in Jerusalem were suffering through some hard times, while their brothers and sisters in Corinth were prospering. Paul was encouraging the Corinthians to follow through with their pledge and to help their needy brothers and sisters.
What did the apostle Paul use as the basis for his request? He went back to the foundation of all our giving—the realization that Jesus gave all for us. The One who had everything—the Son of God who had all the benefits and blessings of eternal glory with his Father in the Spirit—left his abundance behind to join us in our broken human flesh. In Jesus Christ, the Son of God dwelt among humans as a human being, and experienced the poverty of our existence. He who had everything became poor, that in his poverty, we might be made rich. We find our spiritual wealth in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ and his gift of the Spirit. He paid the ultimate price, gave it all up, for our sakes.
In the light of this, Paul says that we are to give as we are able, to care for and help others. For what purpose? For the sake of equality. This is an interesting point. He doesn’t say that it’s wrong or bad to be wealthy, but that wealth provides an opportunity to help lift others up. Neither does Paul say that poverty is bad, but rather, it provides an open door for creating communion—a place where those who have can bless those who have not, to bring the two together in unity. The goal is not that everyone is the same but that each has what they need.
The divine Persons of the Trinity are each unique but are equal and yet are one. They created us as human beings to be equals. But inevitably, we find ways in which we elevate ourselves at the expense of others. We push others down, that we may be raised up. Our goal should not be to do this, but to follow Christ—the One who came down, lowered himself down into the place where we are, to bring us up to where he is in glory. This is the calling he has given each of us—to be turned outward, toward others, not to push them down or keep them beneath us, but to lift them up, so there is equality. We are designed to live as unique equals in union and communion with God and one another.
So back to my comment about ideals and actions. In this life, it is a real challenge to live this out. There are so many things demanding our attention, so many responsibilities, and so many opportunities. All around are possibilities, ways to spend our money, to use our time, and to occupy our attention. It’s possible to spend every moment from the time we wake up to the time we close our eyes in sleep attending to what’s right in front of us without ever noticing that all around us are people in need. It is so easy to be so self-absorbed that we never attend to the need that others may have to be lifted up into a space beside us, to share life with us, and to be included in the unity and oneness of our life in the Trinity.
And the greatest need of each and every person here on earth is to know that they are loved, accepted, forgiven, and included in God’s life and love. Yes, they have physical needs too. In Paul’s day, the needs the Corinth church helped with were food, clothing, and shelter. Their financial contribution ensured that their poverty-stricken brothers and sisters would have the basics of physical life. In the same way, we can look at the blessings the Lord has given us and find ways to enable those with less to have what they truly need.
It is Christ’s life in us by the Spirit who enables us to see those around us with new eyes, and to recognize opportunities to lift others up out of their need, to join us where we are. It is God’s Spirit at work in us who enables us to do this. Giving is a grace of the Spirit. Our ability to recognize a need and to actively work to fill that need, comes from God himself—the One who saw our need as poverty-stricken human beings, and came in Jesus Christ to lift us up to life with our Triune God, now and forever. How might we open ourselves up more completely to the indwelling Spirit, so that God can lift others up to share in the Triune life and love?
Thank you, dear Trinity, for your selfless generosity toward us in our brokenness and need. Thank you, dear Jesus, for generously offering yourself to us so that we might join with you in your life with your Father in the Spirit. Grant us the grace to love others as you have loved us, by being generous and helpful to those in need, in your name, Jesus, by your Spirit. Amen.
“But just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also. I am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. I give my opinion in this matter, for this is to your advantage, who were the first to begin a year ago not only to do this, but also to desire to do it. But now finish doing it also, so that just as there was the readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it by your ability. For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality— at this present time your abundance being a supply for their need, so that their abundance also may become a supply for your need, that there may be equality; as it is written, ‘He who’ gathered ‘much did not have too much, and he who’ gathered ‘little had no lack.’ ” 2 Corinthians 8:7–15 NASB
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Working Together with Christ
By Linda Rex
June 23, 2024, Proper 7 | After Pentecost—When we talk about the topic of grace and the forgiveness we have in Jesus Christ, a lot of times we focus on what this does for each of us in our own individual life and circumstance. We often neglect to talk about the implications of this—in what does our acceptance of God’s grace result?
In our New Testament passage for this Sunday, 2 Corinthians 6:1–13, the apostle Paul reminds the members in Corinth that God’s grace is a wonderful thing. We don’t want to underestimate God’s grace or make it less than it is. What God has done for us in Christ, in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension, and in the gift of the Spirit, is wonderful, powerful, and effective. God has opened the way for each of us to share in his life and love. In Christ and by the Spirit, each of us is welcomed home, and has a place at the Lord’s table. But Paul warns us that we are not to receive this grace in vain. There’s a response to this grace Paul calls us to—a self-offering which reflects the self-offering of Jesus Christ. Because of what Jesus has done and is doing, we want to actively respond with our own service to God and others.
Paul draws attention to the reality that we are each called to be co-workers with Christ. This was our original calling in the garden of Eden, and God has redeemed us in Christ for this very purpose. Our lives are a participation in Christ’s life. Our fellowship with God and others is a participation in Christ’s own fellowship with our Father and one another. Because we are in Christ and Christ is in us, we are caught up in the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ in this world. There is a message of good news, of God’s grace for us in Jesus Christ, which is available for all, which the Lord wants us to share with everyone.
This labor of love, of sharing the good news with others, is our participation with Christ, and it means we will face some challenges. The apostle Paul speaks of the many difficulties he faced: “much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger.” Although we may not experience challenges as difficult as these, we have our own struggles that we go through as we seek to live out the truth of God’s amazing grace at work in our lives. When we share the good news of Jesus Christ with others, these challenges may become even more complicated and difficult.
The blessing which goes along with these struggles is that the grace of God in Christ means we have available the gift of the indwelling Spirit of God. This means that our participation in Christ’s ministry and mission in this world are not something we do on our own or under our own strength. Indeed, Paul reminds us that we are given divine spiritual weapons (“weapons of righteousness”) for us to use for both offense and defense (“the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left”). By the Spirit, we have genuine love for others, and have the word of truth upon our lips. Paul says that we are filled with patience and kindness by the power of God, so that we are able to present the gospel and live our lives in a way in which God’s ministry will not be discredited or cause unnecessary offense.
The apostle Paul then mentions certain paradoxes. When we look closely at these, we begin to see how our participation in Christ and his mission and ministry is reflected in our own life of faith. Paul writes that he and his co-workers show themselves commendable servants (NKJV: ministers) by “by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things.” As we look closely at this list of paradoxes, we see much that resonates with the life of Christ. The Son of God left the riches and glories of heaven to join us in our poverty, that he might make us rich. The Son of God came to die that we might live forever, and he became a man of sorrows, that we might together rejoice, now and forever, in his heavenly kingdom. The One who gave up everything, so that we might one day share all things with him, is the One who is in us, with us, and for us—Jesus Christ. As we participate in Jesus’ mission and ministry in this world, we can be comforted that we go through nothing alone—he is ever with us and in us. In Christ, we have great hope, and we want to share that hope with others, no matter the cost. Our ability to bear that cost, whatever it may be, is given to us by our heavenly Father, through his Son Jesus, in the Spirit. This is why we want to be open-hearted toward others, because God has been so open-hearted toward us in Jesus Christ.
Heavenly Trinity, thank you for the love you have shown to us by making a place for us in your divine fellowship, that we may share in your life and love. Thank you for the grace which is ours in Jesus. Grant that we may faithfully share this good news with others as you have shared it so generously with us, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
“And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain—for He says, ‘at the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the day of salvation I helped you.’ Behold, now is ‘the acceptable time,’ behold, now is ‘the day of salvation’—giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things. Our mouth has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians, our heart is opened wide. You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own affections. Now in a like exchange—I speak as to children—open wide to us also.” 2 Corinthians 6:1–13 NASB
[Printable copy: https://lifeinthetrinity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/olitworking-together-with-christ.pdf ]
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Spreading Grace
By Linda Rex
June 9, 2024, Proper 5 | After Pentecost—In last week’s blog, I wrote about how God’s treasure, his glorious presence, is hidden in these jars of clay or shells, as human beings, and how, by the Spirit, Jesus is made manifest to those around us. We are faced, as those who follow Christ, with the challenge of responding to Jesus’ command to lay down our lives, to pick up our cross, and to follow him.
In this Sunday’s passage, 2 Corinthians 4:13–5:1, the apostle Paul tells the members at Corinth that his message of the good news of Jesus Christ was birthed in the “spirit of faith” which compelled him. His ministry of sharing the gospel was other-centered, spreading the grace of God through Jesus Christ to more and more people, so that thanksgiving would abound to God’s own glory. Paul looked forward with great anticipation to the day when he and those he was sharing the message with would rise with Christ and be presented to God.
What is interesting to me about this passage is how the apostle Paul goes on to talk about the challenges he experienced as he shared the good news of Jesus Christ with others. He calls these “light affliction”, even though he experienced beatings, shipwreck, persecution, and rejection. In comparison with Paul’s experiences in his mission ministry, I find that my struggles are nothing in comparison. For example, this morning, as I started to do the Our Life in the Trinity tasks, the power went off in my home and was off until this evening. This inconvenience made doing my tasks very difficult, but it is nothing in comparison with the true difficulties the apostle Paul faced in his ministry.
Paul reminded the members at Corinth that even though we grow older and more fragile in our external being, our internal being is being renewed day by day. The false self, which died with Christ, is only temporal and will not last. One day it will be gone forever. The new self, which rose with Christ, is eternal, ever becoming more solidified in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, who lives in us. When we die, that which is temporal and has died with Christ will be replaced with our true self—that which is hidden with Christ in God. Our true self will live eternally in the new heaven and new earth, when God comes to dwell with man.
It is this hope planted firmly in our minds and hearts that inspires us to share the good news of Jesus Christ with others. As the Holy Spirit enables us to see this picture of our life in Christ, both now and forever, we are moved to talk about it. What has so profoundly changed our lives and given us a new vision of God and of the future compels us to spread the grace of God to more and more people. The result is a groundswell of thanksgiving and praise, all for the glory of God.
If we are honest with ourselves, we can see that too often our focus is not on the eternal realities, but on the temporal, passing pleasures or struggles of this life. Paul reminds us to focus on what will last forever, not on what will disappear one day. This is a real challenge for us, for what can be seen, tasted, felt, heard, or done is what occupies our attention more than what may be going on inside of us or in the hearts of others. Unless we make the effort to attend to the spiritual realities, we may live in ways that are indifferent or inobservant to what is most important. We may miss out on the joy of participating in what God is doing in this world as he brings many people to himself to participate in the grace of God through his Son Jesus Christ by the Spirit.
When we keep our eyes and hearts on the passing, temporal concerns of this life, it is easy to lose heart. Paul encourages us to remember the spiritual realities, our grounding in Christ, in his life, death, resurrection and ascension, and all that means for us. This grace moves us to thanksgiving and praise, and our faith in Christ compels us to share the good news with others. As we gather to share this journey in Christ, we find ourselves participating in the divine life and love, experiencing a foretaste of the joy we will experience one day when Jesus returns in glory.
Dear Trinity, thank you for sharing your life and love with us through Jesus in your Spirit. Grant us the grace to pay attention to what really matters, and to keep our eyes on you. May your grace spread out into all the world and may you be fully glorified, now and forever, as all give thanks to you, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
“But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, ‘I believed, therefore I spoke,’ we also believe, therefore we also speak, knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” 2 Corinthians 4:13–5:1 NASB
[Printable copy: https://lifeinthetrinity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/olitspreading-grace.pdf ]
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Fear or Faith
By Linda Rex
May 26, 2024—Holy Trinity | After Pentecost—One of the things I’ve noticed lately has been how often our decisions, our behavior, and our attitudes are governed by fear. Often, when I ask someone what they are afraid of, they completely deny that there is any fear involved at all. They deny that fear has anything to do with why they are acting a certain way or saying particular things, even though it is obvious to others that they are afraid.
In our New Testament reading for Holy Trinity Sunday, Romans 8:12–17, the apostle Paul points out the difference between slavery and sonship. He says that a spirit of slavery has its basis in fear, whereas, a spirit of sonship is based in love. What God has given us through Christ in the Spirit is a participation in the love of Father, Son, and Spirit. This means there is no reason for us to be afraid or to have a sense of fear in regards to God.
But often, the way in which we live our lives and make our decisions is rooted in fear. Because we do not know God well and trust him in every circumstance, we find ourselves immobilized, unable to courageously move forward. Or, we sense a thousand and one reasons why everything is going to go wrong or has gone awry, because we simply cannot believe that God is present, real, and loves us unconditionally, completely, and ceaselessly.
Our response as a result of fear rather than of faith often looks more like slavery than love. Indeed, when we are fearful, we tend to gravitate towards actions and words that will give us a feeling of control or mastery in the situation. We create rules or expectations or standards by which we measure our standing. We assess whether or not we are safe or are okay in our relationships with God or others. When taken to its worst end, fear blinds us to the reality of God’s love and grace, preventing us from living and walking in the truth of who we are as God’s beloved children. Indeed, fear often drives our responses, and its ultimate affect is destructive and unhealthy for us, creating division, pain, death, and isolation in our relationships. And this is not God’s desire for us.
If we sense fear within ourselves or realize that our decisions and how we are responding to situations is being driven by fear, we need to reconsider where we stand in relation to our Triune God. It takes a measure of humility and self-awareness to admit that perhaps we are driven by fear rather than living out of a heart filled with the love of God in Christ by the Spirit. Are we willing to admit that we are responding out of fear rather than simply trusting in our loving, gracious God?
How well do we know our God who is Father, Son, and Spirit? It is our God who is love, living in our hearts, who drives out the fear which seeks to take up residence within. In our life today, our hearts may be given over to fear or given over to love—we have both at work in our human flesh right now. But the apostle Paul says that we have no obligation to live in fear or to allow fear to be the driving force within. One day fear will be removed forever, but meanwhile, suffering will occur and fear will challenge our trust in our Triune God.
Indeed, we are new creations. We have been given God’s Spirit, the presence of God living in us, filling us with his love. We have no obligation to the deeds of death. Rather, we are bound by the Spirit to live and walk in love, for this is the truth of who we are as image-bearers of Christ. It is Jesus’ life in us by the Spirit which motivates us. God’s love poured out on and in us in the Spirit pours out from us to those around us. In this place of divine love and grace, there is no room left for fear. This is why we turn to Jesus, and open ourselves to the Holy Spirit. God’s perfect love casts out our fear and gives us faith.
The Holy Spirit, given to us by Jesus from the Father, binds our hearts and our spirits with God, uniting us and making us one. In the Spirit, resonating within us, is the affection between the Father and the Son, as we hear within our heart Jesus’ own “Abba, Father.” In this safe place, held in God’s love and life, we are free from fear. We rest our head on the chest of our loving Father, and feel the loving arms of our Lord Jesus, and the kiss of the Spirit on our cheek. In the embrace of the holy Trinity, there is no room left for fear.
Dearest Father, Jesus, Spirit, thank you for wrapping us in your warm embrace of love and grace. Enable us to see and confess our fear, to turn towards you in faith, and to allow you to fill us with your perfect love. Grant us the grace to rest in your grace and love, through Jesus and by your Spirit. Amen.
“So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” Romans 8:12–17 NASB
“We owe flesh nothing. In the light of all this, to now continue to live under the sinful influences of the senses, is to reinstate the dominion of spiritual death. Instead, we are indebted to now exhibit the highest expression of life inspired by the Spirit. This life demonstrates zero tolerance to the habits and sinful patterns of the flesh. The original life of the Father revealed in his Son is the life the Spirit now conducts within us. Slavery is such a poor substitute for sonship. They are opposites; the one leads forcefully through fear while sonship responds fondly to Abba Father. We are not slaves to a cruel taskmaster but gifted with the spirit of sonship; engaging the tender affection of Papa without any reserve. Holy Spirit personally entwines our spirit; resonating ceaselessly within, endorsing Abba’s parenthood. The fact that we are God’s offspring, certainly also means that we are equal heirs of God. Not only is God our portion, but we are his. We are co-heirs in Christ. So, whatever we may suffer, at any time could separate us from our inclusion in his sufferings. Thus, every reminder of this mystery, also reinforces the fact that we have been made equal participants in the glory of his resurrection.” Romans 8:12–17 Mirror Bible
[Printable copy: https://lifeinthetrinity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/olitfear-or-faith.pdf ]
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The Ultimate Victory
By Linda Rex
May 5, 2024, 6th Sunday in Easter—“I wish I had your faith,” a friend said to me. We had been talking about a change God had done in my life. The Lord had given me a totally new perspective about what it meant to follow Christ. And his grace had transformed my life.
The interesting thing about faith is that we cannot drum it up ourselves. We can only receive it as a gift from God. It is the faith of Jesus Christ that we need most, for only Jesus truly knows the trustworthiness, faithfulness, love, and goodness of the Triune God.
This Sunday’s reading in the New Testament, 1 John 5:1–6, speaks of the need to believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God who lived in our human flesh, was crucified, and rose again. Bound up in the sacrificial self-offering of Jesus Christ is a profound expression of God’s love. As we believe, we receive this gift of love he offers us. This gift is God’s love poured out in the Spirit of truth. The Spirit bears witness within us to the reality that God has come to dwell in human hearts, through Jesus in the Spirit.
The love of God is poured out within our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5). It is Christ in us by the Spirit who is the law of God written on human hearts. It is Jesus’ own face-to-face relationship with his Father in the Spirit that we participate in. It is his triumph over evil, sin, and death that we share in. And we find within his victory our own victory over all that opposes God. This is the beauty of our new life in Christ.
Too often we focus on the dos and don’ts of our life in Christ. We focus on whether or not we (or others) are measuring up to the standards we believe God requires of us. We find ourselves trying to hide our failures to love. We stuff down inside, as best as we can, all those things we are ashamed of and feel guilty about. And they only seem to gain strength and power.
What we miss is the reality that, in Christ, we are who God has declared us to be—his very own beloved children. We cannot alter our inclusion in his life by our behavior or misbehavior. God’s love is unconditional. However, the reality is that our experience of his love is affected by our behavior or misbehavior. And we may need to be reawakened to the reality in which we exist.
When my toddler threw a temper tantrum, it did not change the reality that they were my beloved child. It did not alter my love for them or my desire to be with them and to have them in my life. It did require that I respond to them in the most loving way possible. They needed to know who they were—my beloved child—and that the behavior they were manifesting was out of sync with that reality. The reality was they could not continue their misbehavior and fully enjoy the fellowship of our family.
Every person who has ever lived was created to participate in God’s life and love. God has loved every person since before the foundation of the world. God knew we each tend to turn and go our own way. This has not altered his love for us. Rather, he has worked since before time began to ensure that nothing, not even our own stubborn disobedient wills, would stand in the way of us being able to participate in his life and love. For it is God’s purpose that every person be included in his life and love for all eternity.
We cannot do any of this on our own. Our own efforts as humans have sent us down the road to ruin, back to the nothingness out of which we were created. God is not willing that anyone perish, and so the Son of God came. Born of a woman, he lived a very human life in obedience to his Father, and died a painful, bloody death. And he rose from the grave to carry our human flesh with him into glory. Now we all are able by faith to participate in Jesus’ own life with his Father in the Spirit. Jesus sent the Spirit from the Father to us so he might live his life in and through us. We have been given Christ’s own life of faith, obedience, and right relationship with his Father, by the Spirit.
We stand with open hands and open hearts to receive this gift of God’s love and grace. We are God’s beloved children. He is our very own Father. Jesus, as our brother and friend, includes us in his own fellowship with his Father in the Spirit. And the Spirit says in our hearts, the words of the Father and Jesus, “I am yours, and you are mine.”
If you are struggling to believe, simply ask the Lord Jesus to give you his faith to believe. He will be happy to share everything he has with you, including the faith to believe.
We thank you, heavenly Father, for the gift of your Son and your Spirit. We ask for the grace to believe—free us from our unbelief. Enable us to leave each day, by your Spirit, in the truth of who we are as your beloved children, accepted, forgiven, redeemed, and renewed, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.” 1 John 5:1–6 NASB
“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ, the incarnate begotten son of God, loves the Father and esteems the son with equal affection. In this knowing [of mankind’s co-genesis revealed in the Christ-incarnation,] we love the children of God with the same love that we have discovered in God; we treasure the conclusion of his prophetic purpose with affection. For the love of God is realized in the way we evaluate his precepts; if love’s triumph is the conclusion of every prophetic pointer, how can this be interpreted as an unbearable burden? Whatever is born of God is destined to triumph over the world system. Our faith celebrates a victory that is already accomplished! This is the ultimate victory: the certainty that the human Jesus is the divine son of God; (that he is indeed the incarnate Christ—and the central theme of both the Word that was before time was as well as the key to understanding all of Scripture. He is the Savior of the world. …) This is he who was to come; he arrived in the flesh via his mother’s womb—by water and blood—Jesus Christ. And in his ministry as the Christ, he was not only borne witness to by John the Baptist in the prophetic baptism of water, but he went all the way into his baptism of death, in his shed blood, where he died humanity’s death. And it is the Spirit that bears witness according to her own being, which is truth!” 1 John 5:1–6 Mirror Bible
[Printable copy: https://lifeinthetrinity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/olitthe-ultimate-victory.pdf ]
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